For A Better Day
by Fight-sister-fight
Summary: 'I didn't mean to push you, Cosima. I-I just wanted to let you know that I would be okay with it. But if you don't want it, that is fine too. It's your choice and I'll love you either way. With or without Charlotte. With or without children of our own. It doesn't matter to me. I'm happy as long as I am with you.' Post-finale. Some Cophine and Charlotte fluff.
1. Delphine I

_A/N:_ _First of all, I was really impressed by the grand finale. I was kind of nervous, but I love that they had a sestra-get-together and that most of the storylines got wrapped up._

 _I like that in the series they didn't make Cosima and Delphine adopt Charlotte, I think they need to strengthen their relationship first and personally I'm glad that they made Cosima not want children. It's so often in TV shows that writers seem to think that every female character needs a baby in the end, as if their life couldn't be fulfilling otherwise._

 _Nevertheless I wrote this story to make sure Charlotte and Cophine get their happy ending :p_

 _In this story Cosima and Delphine don't hunt down all the Leda's. It doesn't make that much sense to me anyway if Cosima has to stay hidden all the time. So let's just imagine that Scott does all the dirty work or that they've just sent the vaccin to the clones' GP's who will print it out on their biological 3D printers or whatever._

* * *

Cosima's clone phone starts buzzing. It's funny, Delphine thinks. The clone drama is over, but all of them have kept their latest version of the clone phone.

Art's name is on the screen.

'Cosima,' she calls. ' _Ma belle,_ your phone's ringing. It's Art.'

She's sitting in bed, all naked and very satisfied. Cosima's gone up to the corner of the large room where she has hung her weed plants out to dry, telling Delphine that now that she's cured, she can finally enjoy smoking weed again, without worrying about ruining her lungs.

Delphine wants to tell her that smoking is still bad. That smoking one joint is equivalent to smoking 20 cigarettes, that Cosima's lungs have been damaged, despite the cure. That Kendall Malone's predisposition to leukemia should be a warning sign. But she holds her tongue.

'You take it, babe,' her girlfriend yells back. 'I'll be there in a sec. We're gonna get super stoned.'

Delphine taps the green button on the screen of the clone phone and brings the device to her ear.

' _Salut_ Art, it's Delphine.'

'Hey Delphine,' the detective mumbles. 'I'm really sorry to bother you, but look, um, my ex wife brought Charlotte and Maya back to me yesterday. Charlotte's feeling really homesick. She has been crying for over an hour and she keeps asking me to bring her to Cosima. I can't get her to calm down. Could you guys maybe come and get her?'

Delphine gasps. It's not that she'd forgotten about Charlotte, but clone club hadn't exactly discussed yet who would take her. The girl was supposed to stay with Art until the end of the week.

'Um, yes. Sure, Art.' She looks at her watch-less wrist and realizes she has no idea what time it is. Late in the afternoon, is her best guess. 'Uh, we'll-we'll be there in an hour.'

'Great. Thanks.'

She puts the phone down and gets up from the bed. She finds a tank top and pulls it over her head before making her way over to her naked girlfriend.

'Cosima?' Her delicate accent lifts the other woman from her task of mixing up tobacco and marijuana and placing the mixture in a leaf of rolling paper. Her experienced hands start folding a tip from a piece of paper, without taking her eyes of Delphine.

'Art said Charlotte is homesick. She keeps asking for you.'

'Oh.' The impassive tone of Cosima's voice surprises Delphine. She's usually so caring and empathic, especially concerning her sisters.

'Cosima...' she starts, but her girlfriend interrupts her.

'-Well, what does he want me to do? We haven't decided who'll take care of her, so she doesn't even have a home to be sick for. We aren't going to raise a teenager. Nor is Sarah. Helena is out of the question and I don't think Alison and Donnie are looking for another mouth to feed, considering Helena and the twins have moved into their garage.'

'I told him we'll pick her up in an hour.'

She expects the angry words before Cosima utters them, but still she cringes. 'What? Delpine... We live in a fucking basement! We don't even have a bed for her to sleep in. And if she stays here now, it will just make it harder for her to leave when we've arranged something else.'

The blonde sighs. 'Cosima...' She's thought about Charlotte for a long time, after Mrs. S. died.

Siobhan was the obvious choice for a guardian for the girl. But now that she's dead...

Cosima's hands stop fumbling around with her neatly rolled joint. 'You're doing it again, Delphine! You can't make these decisions without asking me what I want!'

'She has no one else,' Delphine exclaims. 'She's your sister. I know you two have bonded. She's been shipped from Marion to Neolution, to Rachel and Susan, to you, to Art. She needs some stability.'

Cosima's eyes grow big. 'What are you saying? Are you saying you want to like... adopt her? Like permanently? You don't even know her, Delphine! We have never even talked about kids. I don't want kids. Besides, we've been apart for a long time. We need to reconnect.'

'I'm not saying adoption,' Delphine hastens to calm her angry girlfriend down. 'It's... We can see how this goes. And decide later whether it would be a possibility. For both us and for Charlotte.'

If she thought that would calm Cosima down, she was wrong, Delphine realizes. Cosima looks at the ceiling as if she's expecting God himself to give her the answer and gestures wildly with her hands.

It reminds her of her mother, who would look up to the skies and ask _"mon Dieu, déliverez-moi de Delphine"_ whenever she asked a difficult question as a child. It was an inside joke between them, but Cosima is not joking.

'She's not a dog! We can't just try it out for a few weeks and then give her back if it doesn't work out. Jeez.' Cosima puts a hand on her forehead in exasperation.

'What do you want to do with her then?' Delphine asks quietly. 'You said yourself that your sisters won't take her. Siobhan is dead. Are you going to put her in foster care? Let her get adopted by strangers who will never let you or your sisters see her again?'

'I don't know,' Cosima replies, in an equally quiet voice. 'I don't know Delphine.' She starts to cry. Her eyes become wet and when the tears overspill, they drip down her cheeks from underneath her glasses. Ever since the beginning of her relationship, it has physically hurt Delphine to see Cosima cry. She can't stand the thought nor the sight of her lover being upset.

She tries to pull the dark haired woman in for a hug, but Cosima's avoids her arms.

'I guess we should get going,' she mumbles with a sob in her voice. 'She's expecting us now.' She puts the tobacco, the rolling paper and her joint in a plastic container and grabs her tights and dress from the floor. She doesn't bother with underwear, Delphine can't help but notice as she stares longingly at the brunette.

'Are you coming or what?' Cosima snaps, clearly annoyed, and Delphine hurries to dress as well.

Cosima's very good at being passive-aggressive. Delphine has learned that much when her girlfriend started to work for Dyad. She never said so explicitly, but she made it very clear to Delphine that she wasn't exactly happy about working for what she considered the enemy.

That's what she does now, sulking in the passenger seat next to her. It makes Delphine feel sad herself. She wonders when she's become so dependable. When has her own happiness become so connected to Cosima's? Will it be like this from now on? She can't be happy when Cosima's unhappy?

They drive to Art's place in silence and make their way up to his floor. Cosima's out of breath at the top of the stairs, but her eyes tell Delphine that her lover will kill her if she dares to bring it up.

Art doesn't mention the tension he must feel between Delphine and Cosima, nor does he say a word about Cosima's red rimmed eyes or the remains of tear stains on her cheeks.

'I'm sorry I called you,' he murmurs, keeping his voice down so the girls don't hear them. 'I know you guys haven't decided yet who will take care of her. But she's been so upset. It has been going on for a few days now. Teresa and I tried to distract her, do fun things, you know. But she has started to eat less and cry more... She kept asking for you.'

'It's fine, Art,' Cosima mumbles, giving him a hug. 'You did good.'

'Come on,' he gestures and they step inside his apartment. Charlotte is lying on the couch in a fetal position, her leg brace is off. Maya is sitting next to her, stroking her hair.

'Look who's here,' Art says and Charlotte sits up.

Cosima kneels in front of the couch and wraps Charlotte up in her arms.

'Cosima,' the girl sniffles. 'You came.'

'Yeah. Of course I came, silly.'

Delphine feels herself tear up when she watches them. It's so obvious that Cosima feels affection for the youngest Leda. Maybe it's not that Cosima doesn't want this, maybe she's just afraid.

'You remember Delphine?' Cosima asks when she lets go of the girl. Charlotte nods shyly. 'She's my girlfriend. Would you like to stay with the both of us for a few days?'

'If you don't mind me.' Charlotte's voice is brave, but her lip quivers. Delphine has seen the same trait in Cosima and her sisters. It breaks her heart. This poor little girl has been through so much. Shifted around from fake mother to fake mother.

'No. Of course not,' Cosima's quick to assure her. Delphine's happy to hear the gentleness in her voice. She's not angry anymore, or at least she's not taking it out on Charlotte.

Charlotte's eyes have shifted to Delphine.

'You're very welcome to stay with us, Charlotte.' Delphine pronounces her name in French and decides she likes it.

'Come on,' Cosima straps the leg brace to Charlotte's leg. It makes Delphine wonder how much time Cosima and Charlotte have actually spent together. The action seems so familiar to her girlfriend.

'We'll go get your stuff.'

'Art,' Delphine asks, while her girlfriend and Charlotte are getting her things. 'Do you have a...' She can't find the English word. ' _Merde_. _Un matelas gonflable?_ An inflatable matrass? How do you call it? We do not have a bed for Charlotte.'

'I have some camping gear. An air matrass for sure. Maybe a sleeping bag as well. Hold on.' He disappears from the room and Delphine sits down next to Maya on the couch.

'How come your girlfriend looks like Beth and Sarah?' the girl asks. 'Are they sisters?'

Delphine bites her lip. She has no idea how much Art has told his daughter about clone club. She decides to just let it go. 'Yes, something like that,' she tells Maya. 'You have very sharp eyes, _mademoiselle_.'

The girl giggles. 'I'm not a young lady. I'm just a girl. _Une fille_.'

After Charlotte has said goodbye to Art and Maya, the three of them make their way back to the car. Delphine is carrying the air matrass and a hand pump, Cosima has the sleeping bag and Charlotte has her own backpack and a small suitcase.

None of them says a word on the ride home. Charlotte has stopped crying, but Delphine can see that the girl is still upset.

When they arrive at the game store however, she sees a small smile appear on Charlotte's face.

'Can we play board games? When we came back from the island Scott taught me how to play Agricola, but I want to play the other games too.'

'Sure,' Cosima replies, squeezing the young girl's shoulder. 'Let's just get you settled in first.'

Of course Delphine gets stuck with inflating the air matrass while Cosima and Charlotte sit on the bed, talking quietly. She can hear them giggle and she takes a moment to admire Cosima's face. Her girlfriend is so beautiful when she smiles. _Comme le soleil se lève_.

'Delphine?' Cosima's voice calls.

'Yes, _ma chérie_?'

'If we order Chinese, will you go get it?'

'Of course, _mon petit chiot_. Anything that makes you happy.'

She means it. There is nothing she wouldn't do for Cosima. For her happiness. The feeling overwhelms her all of a sudden. How is it possible that she feels so much love for this woman? Sometimes her love for Cosima scares her, to be so dependant, to be so attached to another human being. Humans are so frail and brittle. If anything would happen to Cosima, she'd fall apart.

She finishes pumping up the air matress and covers it with a clean sheet and the sleeping bag Art lent them. Her vision is blurry with tears and visions of Cosima being ill and nearly dying as she makes her way to the small niche in the basement that serves as Cosima's bedroom. Cosima's lying on her belly, her feet dangling in the air above the pillows and Charlotte's on her side next to her, laughing about something.

She kneels in front of the bed, tears streaming down her face. She chokes down a sob as she hears Cosima's concerned voice. Her small hands cup Delphine's face.

'Delphine? Hey, what's going on?'

She can't voice it. She doesn't know how to explain it. Not even to Cosima. This sudden feeling of needing to be with her lover, to hold her, to be held. This overwhelming love that she feels for the other woman. The fear of losing her. The gratitude that she feels for both of them surviving. For being together.

Cosima sits up and slides down from the bed on the floor so she can hold Delphine in her arms. She showers the blonde's face with kisses. 'Delphine,' she whispers. 'It's okay. Everything's okay. We're okay. Ssh.'

Delphine doesn't say anything. She just cries and her girlfriend rubs her back until she finally calms down.

Cosima doesn't ask her what is wrong and Delphine doesn't offer an explanation. She just presses her face into Cosima's shoulder, inhaling her girlfriend's scent.

An even smaller hand strokes her back. 'You don't have to pick up the Chinese if you don't want to,' Charlotte says, eliciting a laugh from both women.

Delphine's head lifts away from Cosima's shoulder and watches the youngest Leda. Her eyes are cheeky, but she can see that Charlotte knows full well that this is not about the Chinese at all. The girl is too smart for that, but it endears Delphine how she tries to comfort her with a joke. It reminds her of Cosima.

'I'm sorry, Charlotte,' she says, pulling herself from Cosima's embrace. 'I'm not usually like this.'

'That's funny,' Cosima comments. 'I remember you telling me the exact same thing when we first met. I bet you say that to every pretty girl.' She sticks out her tongue and the three of them laugh.

'I guess I should really go pick up the food, _non_?' Delphine stands up and finds her coat on a chair.

'I'll come with you,' Charlotte tells her, scrambling up from the bed. She must really have missed Cosima, Delphine muses. She has perked up considerably and seems so much livelier than before, at Art's place. If the girl is already this attached to Cosima, these extra days won't matter that much.

It's dark and cold outside, but it makes her feel happy to walk past houses where the lighting is on. Families and friends being together in the warmth of their own homes.

Charlotte's hand is holding her own and she tries to adjust her steps to Charlotte's slower pace. For a moment she wonders what exactly is wrong with the girl's leg. She'll have to ask Cosima about that later. For now she just enjoys the feeling of the small, warm hand in her own, Charlotte is so sweet and trusting.

Delphine's never really thought about having children. Her career has always come first. She has known about Cosima's feelings about motherhood since before they met, every conversation on the issue well documented by previous monitors. She could live without having children, as long as she has Cosima. She knows that for sure. But she can't help thinking that Charlotte might not be such a bad addition.

They eat on the Persian rug in what Cosima calls the chill zone. Delphine is impressed with the amount of food Charlotte stuffs away. She must be making up for the meals she missed at Art's.

'Do you like it?' Delphine asks and Charlotte nods heartily.

'It's very good. I never had Chinese food before.' She smiles. 'I like eating with sticks.'

'Yeah, it's fun, isn't it?' Cosima asks. She's tied a hairband around Charlotte's chopsticks so they were easier to manouver for the girl. 'Did you know it's healthier to eat with sticks, because you eat slower? Your body has more time to digest the food.'

Charlotte shakes her head. 'No, I didn't. But I don't think I want to eat with them all the time. Eating mashed potatoes would be difficult.' She giggles. 'Can we play a game now?'

'Sure,' Cosima replies. 'Why don't you go up to the store and pick out a good one?'

Delphine starts clearing away the dishes while Charlotte walks up the stairs.

'She's a good girl,' Delphine muses. 'She's sweet and funny. She reminds me of you.' She pokes Cosima's side.

'Yeah, she is,' her girlfriend agrees, but when Delphine looks at her, she immediately becomes defensive. 'Which does not mean that I think that we should adopt her.'

'I'm not saying that,' Delphine shushes.

'Don't you know how easy it is to mess up a kid, Delphine? What if we turn out to be really shitty parents? What if she turns out to be really messed up from everything that's happened? Or if she grows up to be an insufferable brat? What if I get sick again? Or something happens to the both of us? What if she gets bullied or if she gets ill? What if somehow we don't give her enough love or enough space to develop into a healthy adult and she gets all fucked up, like Helena?'

'No one can foresee the future, Cosima. All of that could happen. Or none of it could not happen. No one knows. Look at you and your sisters. At all the Leda's. There are so many outcomes and possibilities, no one can know for sure. Insecurities are the same for every child. If we had a child of our own those things could also happen.'

'Yeah, that's why I never wanted a child of my own.'

Delphine palms her face and strokes Cosima's cheek. 'I didn't mean to push you, Cosima. I-I just wanted to let you know that I would be okay with it. But if you don't want it, that is fine too. It's your choice and I'll love you either way. With or without Charlotte. With or without children of our own. It doesn't matter to me. I'm happy as long as I am with you.'

Cosima nods and kisses her hands. 'I-' But before she can start her sentence, they hear the door open and Charlotte hobbles down the stairs.

'We'll talk about it later, Delphine.'

They play _Descent: Journeys in the Dark_ for hours. Delphine has never played a lot of board games; just card games and dominoes and twister, but she has to admit that this is kind of exciting. Of course it also helps that Cosima and Charlotte are both very much into it. Cosima loves to play the dungeon master, adopting a new voice and personality for each monster that she controls and they all giggle like idiots.

It's only when Charlotte's eyes start to droop, that they decide that it's time for bed. It's past eleven and Delphine is really not sure what is an appropriate time to go to bed for a ten year old. Cosima shrugs. 'It's not like she has school or anything.'

When Charlotte has brushed her teeth and pulled on her pajamas, she crawls into the sleeping bag on the matrass in the corner of the room. Cosima squats down at her side.

'We're just behind that door.' She hears her lover tell the girl. 'If anything's wrong, just come around. Doesn't matter what it is.'

'I'll be fine, Cosima,' the youngest Leda replies. 'I never have nightmares and I haven't wet the bed since I was six.'

Cosima laughs. 'Okay then. Good night. Don't let the bed bugs bite!'

' _Bonne nuit_ , Charlotte,' Delphine tells her. 'Sleep well.'


	2. Cosima I

_A/N: This chapter focuses mostly on the conversation between Cosima and her sisters. There's not much Cophine, but the next chapter will take care of that! I think that it's important for Cosima to discuss her feelings first with Alison and Sarah. I left Helena out of it, I love her a character, but I felt as if she wouldn't have much to contribute to this._

* * *

The morning before the meeting with her sisters, Cosima feels restless. They were supposed to meet on Sunday, but Sarah called it off the night before and they rescheduled it to Thursday, which meant Charlotte had to stay with them for half a week longer. It wasn't necessarily a bad thing. The three of them had certainly enjoyed themselves. They played tons of board games, visited the Ontario Science Centre and they'd baked cookies.

But between all of that she and Delphine haven't had any time to discuss Charlotte, neither of them felt comfortable bringing up the subject when the girl was around. Scott and Hell Wizard took her laser gaming twice, but Cosima and Delphine had been busy doing _other_ things then...

Cosima knows she will have to ask Alison if Charlotte can stay with her for a couple days so she and Delphine can finally have the talk that is long due. She's told Delphine as much, but they haven't exactly informed Charlotte about having to stay with yet another one of her big sisters.

She curses herself for not telling the girl sooner. She has been wanting to broach the subject with the younger clone for a few days, but she wasn't sure how to tell her and she definitely didn't want to kill the happy mood that hung between the three of them for the last days.

Thursday morning, around eleven, she finally forces herself to get it over with. They have to be at Sarah's at two, so there really isn't any time to procrastinate any further.

'Charlotte?' she asks. 'Could you go pack your stuff before we go to Sarah?'

Charlotte's sitting at the coffee table, drawing diligently. The tip of her tongue is sticking out of her mouth in concentration. Her long hair brushes over the paper when she turns around to face Cosima.

Cosima sees a slightly fearful and dejected look in the eyes that look so much like her own. She feels horribly guilty. She's glad that she's sent Delphine out to the laundromat, because she knows her girlfriend would be horrified if she'd witnessed this train wreck of a conversation.

'Am I not going to stay with you?' Charlotte asks, casting her eyes downward to the floor.

'Not for a while, I think,' she tells her. 'You're probably gonna stay with Alison and Donnie for a bit. Just for a couple of days. I'll give you my phone number and you can call me whenever you want.' She wants to slap herself. Is that supposed to make up for the fact that she's basically dumping the girl with another fake family that probably won't keep her?

'Where am I going to stay afterwards?'

'We're looking into that, honey. I'm so sorry I can't give you an answer right now, but we need to discuss things and decide what would be the best option for you. We're trying to work it out as fast as we can, but we need some time.'

She pulls the girl towards her for a hug, but Charlotte doesn't hug her back. She stays still in Cosima's arms, not resisting, but not relaxing either.

She doesn't argue. She doesn't cry. She doesn't even say anything, except for a soft 'okay'. And like the good girl she is, she pulls back from Cosima's arms and goes to the corner of the room to gather her things. Cosima doesn't think she's ever felt so guilty. Charlotte reminds her of an abused dog, one that always wiggles its tail in hope whenever it's approached, but that keeps being let down and abused. Internally she screams at Delphine and Art and herself for putting her in this position.

* * *

'Listen guys,' Sarah starts their meeting. 'I'm sorry I canceled on you earlier. I just... I needed to clear my head.' She looks at Cosima and Delphine. 'I know you've taken Charlotte in for a longer time than you probably expected. And the same goes for you, Alison, with Helena and the twins. I know this isn't ideal, but thank you for doing that.'

Sarah's hands are fumbling around with one of Kira's t-shirts that is neatly folded and lying on the table. Cosima can see that her sister feels uncomfortable, being in the center of the attention.

Sarah doesn't look good. She's pale and the dark circles under her eyes show that she hasn't gotten much sleep. The house is a mess as well. There's laundry everywhere and almost every surface in the kitchen and living room is covered by a bizarre mixture of brightly colored children's toys, dossiers on Neolution and Dyad and sympathy cards. She supposes it's a weird mixture of Kira, Sarah and Siobhan.

'It's alright, Sarah,' Alison chimes in, always one to break uncomfortable silences. 'That's what sisters are for. You did so much for us. Now it's our turn. And we don't mind Helena staying with us. Donnie and I've talked about it and she's more than welcome to stay with us for a longer time.'

Sarah nods, obviously unable to put her emotions into words. Cosima reaches out to squeeze her sister's hand. 'It's totally cool. Really.' She can't think of anyone who should feel less guilty than Sarah about all of this.

They are all sitting in Siobhan's kitchen: Alison, Donnie, Sarah, Felix, Delphine and Cosima. The three of them had decided in advance that it would be better to keep Helena out of this, deeming their fourth sister too mentally unstable to be of any actual help in this meeting. Besides that, she's still recovering from giving birth. Charlotte and Kira are there as well, but they've been sent upstairs to Kira's room.

Alison claps her hands. 'Okay, if everyone's ready, let's move to the first item on the agenda.' She opens the notebook she's used to keep track of all the things that need to be discussed, but Cosima interrupts her.

'I would like to discuss some things with the three of us first.' She looks at Felix, Donnie and Delphine. 'I'm sorry guys, but there's some stuff that only concerns us. No offense.'

'None taken.' Donnie's reply is calm. He kisses Alison's cheek. 'Honey, I think we've discussed everything already. You know how I think about it.' His gaze shifts to Felix and Delphine. 'Maybe we can take Kira and Charlotte out?'

God, Cosima thinks to herself. When did Alison and Donnie become this annoyingly perfect?

'I did not receive the agenda items,' Delphine sputters. Cosima can see the hurt in her girlfriend's eyes. The puppy dog look. It makes her feel even more guilty, but she needs to talk about Charlotte with her sisters first. She can't let herself be swayed by those brown eyes and that French lilt. 'We did not discuss things... Cosima, is this about...?'

'-I just want to discuss some things with my sisters first,' Cosima tries. 'No decisions or anything. Just some things that really only concern us. As clones. We'll discuss the rest when you've come back. Just give us an hour. '

'C'mon blondie,' Felix sighs and offers his hand to Delphine. 'You've heard her. It's a clone-only thing. We'll go if we're not welcome.'

'But Cosima, if it's... -It concerns me as well.'

'Delphine, please. I need this. We'll discuss it later.'

'Fine.' Delphine abruptly pulls her hand away from where it had been lying in Cosima's and grabs on to Felix's. She mutters something in French which sounds suspiciously much like _'rien à foutre_ ' _,_ but Cosima can't make it out exactly. She knows Delphine is angry, but her lover will forgive her later.

* * *

'Um, Cos,' Sarah starts, once the non-clones have gathered the children and left. 'What was that about?'

Cosima's hands play with an especially ugly-colored sympathy card on the table. 'Delphine wants us to take care of Charlotte.' She can feel the tears cloud her eyes as she finally tells her sisters about this. She doesn't even know why. It's been eight days since her girlfriend told her that she would be open to taking care of Charlotte. It shouldn't be so shocking to just say it, but still she's afraid how her sisters will react. Would they still mistrust Delphine? Will they tell her she's crazy for even considering it?

Sarah looks shocked. 'She does?'

Alison, to her credit, seems unfazed. 'Girls, the first agenda item is M.K.'s money, not Charlotte,' she says without looking up from her list.

So often it astonishes Cosima how different they all are. Alison is so by the book and orderly, while Sarah is the complete opposite. She likes to think that she is somewhere in the middle, nowhere as organized as Alison, but also not a whirl of chaos like Sarah, who's giving Alison the stink eye right now.

'For Christ's sake, Alison. Put away your bloody agenda, Cosima's upset about this.'

Alison purses her lips together, but she does close her notebook. She places a hand on Cosima's shoulder. 'Well, what do you want, honey?'

'I don't know.' It's true. Delphine told her it would be okay either way, but Cosima has no idea what she wants. She likes Charlotte. Maybe she loves her little sister. She definitely feels horribly guilty for making her pack her stuff again. But she's never wanted children. Babies have always frightened her, so tiny and frail. Charlotte is different, she's ten years old, so the baby part is over. But still.

'Donnie and I talked about it. But it would be too much for us. We don't have another bedroom and Oscar and Gemma already have a hard time adjusting to Helena and the twins.' Alison laughs nervously. 'So do we. Helena is great and we really don't mind having her. But she needs a lot of guidance and to be honest; sometimes she really works on my nerves.'

Cosima can see Sarah rolling her eyes, but personally she feels it's brave of Alison to admit her flaws.

'Doesn't mean you have to take Charlotte, though,' Sarah tells Cosima. 'There are other options. Fee said maybe boarding school? I guess if we get our hands on M.K.'s money that might be an option?'

'I don't want her to go to boarding school. It's so swanky and preppy. Besides, Delphine went to boarding school and she hated it and felt really lonely.'

'Doesn't have be the same for Charlotte. She seems to be kind of a loner anyway.'

'She's reminds me a lot of myself as a child,' Cosima sighs. 'Except that I had friends, even though I was weird. And I had parents who supported me. Charlotte's just become used to being lonely, but she blooms when she gets attention. I don't want her to feel as if we're just getting rid of her.'

'Even if she would go to boarding school, she could come home in the weekends,' Alison suggests. 'I could make a schedule for who would take her. We wouldn't mind having her every few weekends.'

'It's better than foster care,' Sarah nods. 'Besides, once she's in the system, we can't exactly explain how we're related and stuff. They would probably not let us see her anymore.'

'So you think Delphine and I shouldn't do it?' Cosima asks. She braces herself for their answers, unsure what she wants to hear.

'No, no, of course not.' That's Alison, quick to assure and probably too polite to tell what she's really thinking. 'It's your decision. Well, and Delphine's of course.' She pats Cosima's shoulder again, as if she's trying to brush the doubt off of her.

'You have to be sure, Cosima,' Sarah says. 'There's nothing worse for a child than living with someone who doesn't want them.' Her eyes are sharp and Cosima wonders what Sarah has been through in her early years. She knows nothing about Sarah's life before she ended up with Siobhan. She isn't sure if Sarah herself knows much about it. But even if she does, her sister is too guarded to share any information.

'Cosima wouldn't resent Charlotte,' Alison chides.

'I don't know. This is why I wanted to talk to you without the others. I don't know what I want. I might regret it. I've never wanted children. I never thought much about having them.'

'Because you're gay,' Alison offers, unhelpfully.

Sarah rolls her eyes again.

'No. I just never felt any inclinations towards motherhood. Like, I love children, they're funny and so open minded. But whenever someone hands me a baby, I'm like: yeah, no you can take it back.'

'Charlotte's not a baby, Cosima.'

'I know that. And I really care for her. I do. She's a good kid. I don't want her to go to a boarding school or foster care, but I'm not sure if I'm the right person to take care of her. And it's not like it's all sunshine and roses with Delphine either... We've been through so much. Delphine's... She's everything to me, you know. I don't want to screw that up. I don't want to screw Charlotte up and I don't want to screw my own life up. What if we are terrible parents? What if I realize after a few months that it was a huge mistake?'

'You won't,' Alison smiles. She wraps her arm around Cosima's shoulders. 'You know, when we adopted Oscar and Gemma I was really afraid as well. I kept thinking: what if I don't love them enough? What if I realize after some months that I can't ever really love them as much as I'd love children of our own? What if they turn out to be brats and I'm stuck with them forever? But you know, from the first moment we took them home with us, they were ours. I honestly can't imagine loving anyone the way I love them. I know it's different with Charlotte, but I'm sure you will come to love her. You won't regret it.'

'Yeah,' Sarah agrees, squeezing Cosima's right hand. 'When I found out I was pregnant with Kira... I-I almost had an abortion. I really didn't think I was gonna be able to take care of a kid. But when they put her in my arms, I was just so in love.' A tear runs down her cheek and Sarah angrily wipes it away. 'I know I've been a shite mother most of the times, but Kira is the best thing that ever happened to me.'

'Thanks guys.' She wraps an arm around Sarah and pulls Alison close as well. They are all crying. 'And you're not a shit mother, Sarah. You love Kira so much and you've gone to great lengths to protect her. She's so lucky to have you.'

Alison pulls back from her embrace and starts handing out tissues. She wipes her eyes. 'Cosima is right. She should be proud to have a mother like you.'

'I am going to need some time to think about Charlotte. And I need to discuss it with Delphine,' Cosima says when she wipes away her own tears, messing up her eyeliner in the process.

Her sisters nod.

'That's fine, honey,' Alison scribbles something down in her notebook.

'I just... I need you to... Can you take Charlotte for a few days? I don't want to do that while she's around. I already told her she's probably going to stay with you and Donnie for a few days.' She starts to cry again. 'God I'm such a shitty person. She's much too attached to us already. I felt like such a bitch when I told her to pack her things this morning. She just looked at me with those eyes and...' Sobs overtake her before she can finish her sentence.

'Stop crying, Cos. You know you need the time to make a well-considered decision and yes, it sucks for Charlotte, but she'll get over it. She's survived this far already. It sounds rough, but we didn't ask for this either. You're not obligated to take her. So pull yourself together and think hard while she stays with Alison.'

Alison looks at them both, uncomfortably. 'It's just that... Everything is so busy with the twins and the school board...'

'I'll take her,' Sarah offers. 'It'll be nice for Kira to have someone around. Just... whatever you decide - don't take too long, Cos. It will just make it harder on both you guys and on Charlotte.'

'I won't. One week max. I just need to get everything straight.'

'Sure. Just know that whatever you decide we'll be there with you. If you decide to take her, we can babysit, organize sleepovers, take her on holidays, whatever. We'll be there to help you guys out. And if you don't take her, we'll find her the best bloody boarding school in town. And even if you decide to take her and things don't work out, we'll find a solution.'

'Thank you. You two mean so much to me. You're the best.'

'Oi, and don't you forget it.'

'Okay. I'm going to cross the Charlotte-question of the agenda since we already discussed that. There's no need for a repeat with the others,' Alison continues, undisturbed by the eye rolls her sisters give her. 'Is there anything else you want to discuss without them?'

'Nope. I'm good.'

'Yeah, me too.'

* * *

They just sit together in the kitchen without speaking much. Alison starts to fold some of the laundry and cleans the dishes in the sink. Sarah tells her off, but their Canadian sister says it's the least she can do.

'Just let her,' Cosima says. 'She likes to clean.'

When Donnie, Felix and Delphine come back with the children, things are tense.

'Are we welcome again?' Delphine asks softly, taking off her coat. She doesn't look at Cosima when she makes her way to the kitchen table.

Alison nods. 'Come in and sit down so we can start.'

'So,' Felix giggles and Cosima wonders if he has managed to get his hands on a drink somehow. 'What did you three dirty clones decide without us?'

'Nothing,' Sarah mutters, giving him a shove.

Delphine is immediately concerned when she sits down next to Cosima and notices her smeared eyeliner.

' _Ma chérie_ , you've been crying!' She cups the brunette's face and looks her over as if she's trying to figure out whether there is something physically wrong with her.

'I'm fine. Don't fuss.' Her girlfriend bites her lip and her eyes go sad. The puppy dog look again, Cosima thinks.

She grabs her lover's hand and squeezes it. 'I'm fine. Really, Delphine.'

Delphine smiles uncertainly. 'Okay, _ma beauté_. I believe you.' Cosima can see that there is more that she wants to say, but before she can open her mouth, Alison claps her hands.

'So,' her sister starts. 'First point on the agenda: M.K.'s money...'


	3. Delphine II

It's quiet in their basement without Charlotte. It's not that the girl is that loud, but both of them have become used to her chatter and the thumps of her weak leg when she wanders about.

'We talked about Charlotte. And I told Sarah and Alison that I need to think about taking her,' Cosima tells her when they come home the night after the meeting. Her lover had been quiet on the ride home, not reacting to Delphine's gentle prodding about what the three of them discussed.

'Okay. I understand that.'

'There are some things the two of us need to discuss, Delphine.'

She nods. Cosima's right. 'About Charlotte.'

'Yes, obvs. But other stuff as well.'

'Do you... You want to discuss it now?'

Her lover snorts. 'Well, if another time would be more convenient for you, we can reschedule, doctor Cormier...'

'Very funny. Let's sit down then.' Both of them sit down on opposite sides of the couch. Delphine can't help but notice Charlotte's air matrass in the corner. They really have to buy the girl a proper bed if she stays.

'Um, so... yeah. Like I said, Sarah and Alison can't take her. We decided that we don't want her to end up in the foster system. So if we don't take her, we'll look into boarding schools. Preferably in Toronto so she can come home in the weekends. We could make a schedule so she can be with us one weekend, with Alison and Donnie for the next, et cetera.'

Delphine is silent.

'Aren't you going to say anything?'

'What do you want me to say? You know I disliked boarding school, but I suppose it's better than foster care. And maybe it's different here. The one I went to in France was very strict and traditional. I'm sure you'll find a more liberal one.'

Her lover nods. 'Thank you. For being understanding. I'm still thinking of us raising her, but there are a lot of difficulties.'

'Like what?'

'How are we going to introduce her? We can't say she's our child, I guess. We'd always have to lie and make up stories about her birth and early years and stuff. And it's not like we can say we happened to adopt a child that looks exactly like me.'

'We can tell people she's your sister. That's not even a lie. No one needs to know about it.'

'I'm going to have to tell my parents. About all the clone drama.' Cosima's eyes look teary again. She knows it has hurt the brunette to keep everything that's happened from her parents. Especially when her health deteriorated. It must have been horrible, Delphine realizes. To see yourself get sicker every day, and to know that you will die without your parents knowing. Cosima has been so strong.

'Do you fear they will react poorly?'

Her girlfriend takes off her glasses and wipes her eyes. With a mocking grin she answers: 'No I don't think they'll react _poorly_. They'll just be angry at me for not telling them. But they'll be happy to see me. And they're gonna love you. And they'd love Charlotte as well. It would just be kind of weird if we'd visit them. Obviously they can't tell their friends and neighbors that Charlotte's my sister.'

'They can tell it's your daughter. If we stay here that will not be a problem.'

'I know. But it'll still be awkward. My parents are close to their friends. They've all known me for ages. It will be totally bizarre when I suddenly come home with a ten-year-old. And besides, what if somehow someone hears both stories? I just don't want to lie all the time. I don't want Charlotte to have to lie all the time.'

Delphine grabs her hand and kisses it. 'I know, _ma princesse._ I know this is difficult.'

Both of them are silent for a moment.

'I know it's a far stretch, but perhaps your parents could tell their friends that you were conceived through IVF and that they used eggs and sperm from a donor. And that Charlotte is your biological sister who you somehow managed to find.'

Cosima smiles. 'I guess that would be possible. Super far fetched, but possible.'

They're both quiet for a while.

'So you want to stay in Toronto?' Delphine asks then, moving on to a new subject that has been brought up. 'We could go back to Minnesota or California if you'd prefer. I'd have to see how to arrange things with my visa, though.'

'I would like to stay here,' Cosima decides. 'I want to be close to my sisters. I need to be close to them. But Delphine? If we do decide to take in Charlotte, everything will change. Like, literally everything.'

' _Ma belle_ , everything has already changed. Things will not be the same as they were before. We cannot go back to that time in Minnesota when we first met. Or to the time when we were fooling around in our own lab in Dyad. Things have changed. For the better. You're healthy. I don't have a double agenda to run. We're free. Your sisters are free.'

'I know, but we're finally together without any of that bullshit. Taking care of a ten-year-old will give us all kind of obligations. We have to be responsible, take care of her, make sure she behaves well, make sure she feels well, go to parent-teacher meetings, drive her to school, to friends, to soccer practice or whatever. We can't have lazy Sundays where all we do is have sex and smoke pot.'

'She's a teenager, not a toddler. She will probably want to sleep in on the weekends. And she can entertain herself for a few hours. We can still have lazy morning sex. And I'm sure your sisters will take her for a weekend if we ask them, _princesse_.'

Cosima rolls her eyes. 'Stop calling me that. And yes, my sisters would let her stay over for some weekends, but we'd always have to plan it in advance. The spontaneity will be gone.' She sighs. 'And she's such a sweetheart now, but what if she grows to be pain in the ass? What if we suck as parents and she turns out all cold hearted and messed up like Rachel?'

Delphine smiles. 'Cosima, you're being paranoid again. You know she is nothing like Rachel. We'd have noticed if she was a budding psychopath. She's stayed with both Kira and Maya, if she was a bully, Sarah and Art would have said something. She's a good girl. Every child acts out sometimes. I think most problems arise when parents are too authoritative. I like to think we would be kind of laid back as parents, let her explore the world on her own. We guide her, but we don't need to control her.'

'What the fuck, Delphine? Did you take a parenting class on the island or what?'

She swats Cosima on the arm. 'No. We can take one if you want. I just gave it some thought over the last couple of days. But these are things that are out of our control. I told you already. We don't know how she will turn out if she stays with us. Nobody knows. But we're both good people, I refuse to believe we will screw her up.'

Cosima seems to mull over that for a while before she brings up the next issue.

'We're gonna have to move if we take her, though. We'll need a bigger place, we can't raise a child in a basement on an inflatable matrass. And Charlotte's gonna need more stuff. She needs to go to school. And she should probably see a therapist. And considering we're both out of a job that might be difficult. I don't have that much money left. Mika pried away a few millions from Ferdinand, but we're still figuring out how to get our hands on it. Plus, we'd to have to split it between all of us, obvs. And Felix and Art deserve a share as well.'

'Cosima. We don't have to worry about money.' Delphine's silent for a moment, chewing on her lip while she wonders how it's possible that they've never talked about this before. 'We could adopt three Charlottes and we'd still be able to live comfortably. My parents are... well off. I received a substantial amount of money from them when I turned 21, plus they paid for all of the expenses for my studies; tuition, housing, books, everything. And Dyad was not a bad employer. They paid for my apartment and my car. The salary was very generous. Even more so when I took over from Rachel.'

'Yeah, it's a real shame they turned out to be a bunch of immoral assholes who performed dubious cloning experiments on humans,' her lover quips, but there's a cheeky grin on her face. 'So you're telling me you're loaded? Wow, I guess I'm a gold digger then.'

'You can't be a gold digger if you didn't know about the gold.'

'There is gold? Is your family French nobility or something?'

' _Non_ , nothing like that,' Delphine says with a serious face. 'But my parents both come from rich families. And they both work in the top of their field. My father is an art curator and my mother a physical therapist. She mostly works with athletes, she's quite well known in France.'

'Wow. Okay.' Cosima's eyes are big, trying to process this information. 'Well, if money's not an issue then I'd like to get my PhD.' She mentions it as if it's a challenge. As if she expects Delphine to talk her out of it. Doesn't she know that stealing Cosima away from university and steering her into the greedy hands of Dyad is one of Delphine's biggest regrets?

'You should,' she tells her girlfriend. 'The University of Toronto is supposed to be a good university. You could apply for next year. I'm sure you'll get a position.'

For some reason that makes Cosima burst into tears.

'I'm sorry,' she sobs. 'I feel like such a crybaby. But it's just... I tell you about all those fears and you reassure me so easily.' She hides her face behind her hands, but Delphine pulls them away.

'You're not a _pleurarde_ , Cosima.' She pulls her girlfriend towards her and other woman sits down in her lap. 'So much has happened,' she whispers. 'You've been so strong.' Cosima sobs in her shoulder. It's ugly sobbing, where tears mix with snot and her lover's face is red and her eyes swollen. But oh, how Delphine loves her.

Before Cosima, she has never had a grown person sit in her lap. When Cosima first crawled into her lap, Delphine couldn't help but feeling a bit confused. In her relationships with men, she'd sat in their laps and it had made her feel small and safe. But with Cosima the roles were suddenly reversed. She'd grown used to it though. And obviously she has sat in Cosima's lap as well, though she prefers it the other way around. Her girlfriend's smaller body fits exactly and she adores being this close to her.

' _Ma bien-aimée_ ,' she whispers in Cosima's hair. The dreads prickly against her face. ' _Ma pauvre bien-aimée.'_

'What does that mean?'

'My well-loved. Or beloved, I guess. Because I love you so.'

'God, you're such a sap,' Cosima laughs trough her tears and blows her nose in a tissue. 'I've never been with anyone who had so many pet names for me.'

'Do you not like them? You never use them for me.'

'I call you 'babe' sometimes. Or 'baby'. I guess I like your name too much. Delphine is so beautiful. I like your pet names, but they're all in French so they sound so much more beautiful. I can call you something embarrassing if you'd like. Honeybun, maybe?' Cosima turns around so she's straddling her. They kiss softly and Cosima starts pressing kisses down the side of her neck.

'Or sweetcheeks?' Her girlfriend softly bites down on her earlobe.

Delphine shakes her head and Cosima kisses her lips again. Her tongue explores Delphine's mouth. 'Honeymouth? Do you like that?' She sits back a little and pulls off Delphine's T-shirt.

'Sweettits?' she murmurs, while she fumbles with the hook of Delphine's bra. The angle is not exactly right, her hand is trapped between Delphine's back and the couch. She manages to snap it open though and pulls the garment away from the blonde's breasts. Delphine moans when her mouth finds her nipple and Cosima's hand starts to massage her other breast.

'Yeah? You like sweettits?' Cosima asks, but she shakes her head.

' _Non, c'est horrible_ ,' she groans.

Cosima giggles. 'Honeycunt?' There's an evil glint in her eyes.

'Cosima!' Delphine whines and presses her girlfriend's hand on her jean-clad crotch. She's so turned on already.

'Ssh, baby, we have all night.'

The brunette takes her time in licking and sucking until both of her nipples have turned into two rosy pink, hard nubs, shining with saliva. Then she pushes Delphine down so she's lying on her back on the couch, and takes her torturing tongue further down her girlfriend's body as she licks and kisses her way along Delphine's stomach.

'Cosima, _ma belle,_ please. Don't tease me.'

She knows that Cosima won't stop it. If she's learned anything it's that her girlfriend loves to tease. She's a generous lover, confident and she likes to lavish Delphine with attention. But she can be a horrible tease when she feels like it. And Delphine knows that right now, she definitely feels like it.

'Patience is a virtue, doctor Cormier.' Cosima's moved up again and her teeth scrape Delphine's nipple and she whimpers. Only then does Cosima finally move away so she can take her jeans off. Her panties are soaked, she's so wet. The brunette makes an appreciative noise when she sees it and she pushes Delphine back in her prone position on the couch.

'God, you're so wet, Delphine.' Cosima's fingers pull on the elastic of one of the leg holes of her underwear. She pulls the drenched fabric away from the other woman's pussy and lets it snap back against her skin.

Delphine whimpers and her girlfriend's index finger starts to trace her swollen sex through the gusset of her panties. 'You've ruined your underwear.'

'Please, Cosima. _Baise-moi_.'

Finally, finally Cosima pulls the panties down her legs. She wants to sob with relief.

Cosima's teeth sink into the skin of her shoulder, while her fingers start to move against Delphine's pussy. They glide through her wetness, smearing it all over Delphine's curls and her labia. Cosima's still teasing, not offering Delphine the direct stimulation she so desperately needs, but the touches send electric shocks all through the blonde's body either way.

'Please,' Delphine begs again, panting. 'Stop teasing.'

Eventually her girlfriend takes pity on her and she starts to rub circles around her clit, stimulating the turgid little organ gently through its hood. Her touch is still too light though, she's obviously planning to draw out Delphine's orgasm.

'Oh, Cosima.' Her hips start to roll against Cosima's hand, desperately. She's so turned on. 'More.' A little more. Cosima rubs a little firmer and a little faster and she can feel the edges of an orgasm already crashing down on her.

'Please, Cosima. _Doigte-moi._ Your fingers. Inside. Hurry up. Please, I'm almost- Oh!' Her girlfriend's fingers push inside of her pussy. It barely takes three thrusts before she comes and a gush of wetness spills over Cosima's hand. Her thighs still and her muscles clench around Cosima's fingers and she gasps.

'Oh God.' Tears dripping from the corners of her eyes.

'You're so frickin' beautiful. My beautiful Delphine,' Cosima mumbles and kisses her softly. 'I love it when you get so desperate and come so quickly when I finger you. It makes me feel like I'm a sex goddess.' She giggles, her eyes full of love.

Delphine's cheeks flush. 'Brat. I couldn't stop it. You teased me too much.' Who is she kidding? She loves Cosima's teasing nature and they both know it.

'Poor you.' A cheeky grin rests on her girlfriend's face. 'I guess I shouldn't be surprised, we only did it twice in the last eight days. It's well below our average.' Cosima laughs at her own joke, referring to the days they didn't have sex because Cosima felt uncomfortable doing it with Charlotte sleeping right outside their bedroom door. The only times they had had sex was when Scott and Hell Wizard took Charlotte out.

'That was because you're paranoid,' Delphine mutters, muscles still twitching.

'I'm sorry, baby.' They kiss again. 'I wasn't done with you though,' her girlfriend pouts. 'I was barely inside of you.'

'We can go again,' Delphine pants. 'Just let me breathe for a second. _Mon dieu_.'

The brunette lets herself collapse on top of her. 'Oh, Delphine,' she presses kisses all over the blonde's face and giggles. It's not a teasing giggle though, it's delighted laughter.

'What?'

'I love you so much. I'm so happy to be with you.'

'You did not even come yet and you're already high on sex,' Delphine teases. She takes Cosima's offered fingers in her mouth to lick them clean and tastes herself. ' _Je t'aime, mon amour_.'

'I love you too, honeycunt.' That earns Cosima a slap on her butt and before she knows it, they're getting lost in each other again.

* * *

They don't talk about Charlotte for four days. Cosima doesn't bring it up and Delphine doesn't want to pressure her, so she keeps her mouth shut. It has to be Cosima's decision, she tells herself. Whatever Cosima wants. She would like to know what's going on in Cosima's head though, but her girlfriend doesn't enlighten her and she doesn't push.

They have never had so much free time together, especially not with Cosima being healthy. Both of them are basking in each other's attention. They stay in bed until noon, they visit museums, go to antique markets, have sex, they smoke pot, play games, have sex, go out for dinner, have more sex.

And then, out of nowhere, Cosima seems to have made her decision. It's Monday night and they've just put their pot brownies in the oven. She's finally managed to convince Cosima to stop smoking the marijuana and to bake it into pastries to spare her lungs. They're washing the dishes of their little baking adventure, both of them in their underwear. And suddenly Cosima announces: 'I think we should go pick up Charlotte tomorrow.'

' _Quoi_? What are you saying, _chérie_?'

'I'm saying I want to do this. We'll take care of her. We'll be the most awesome lesbian parent slash sister couple ever.'

Cosima's beaming.

'Okay.'

'What?' She can hear the indignancy in Cosima's voice. 'You're just gonna say 'okay'? I thought you'd be happier!'

'Well, I'm nervous about it too. It's not like I've always dreamed of adopting a ten-year-old. There's a lot to arrange.'

She can see Cosima's eyes nearly bulging out of her head and giggles. 'I'm happy, Cosima. Just a little nervous. I'm allowed to, _non_?'

'Yeah. But I need you to be in this with me for the full hundred percent!'

'I am,' she assures her girlfriend and she presses a kiss to her forehead. 'Believe me, I am. It might not always be easy, but we'll make it work. I know we will.'

Cosima nods, reassured by her touch. 'Right. We'll have to ask Charlotte first though.' She giggles nervously. 'What if we tell her and she says she'd rather go to boarding school?'

'She won't, _mon trésor_. She adores you.'

* * *

'Hey, Charlotte,' Cosima tells the girl the next morning. They've just picked her up from Sarah's place and taken her out to a small diner to have brunch. 'We want to ask you something important.'

The girl lets go of the straw of her milkshake and looks up at them expectantly.

'We know you've had a difficult time, being moved around from Marion, to Rachel, to Revival, to me, to Art, to us and now to Sarah...'

There's a strange look in Charlotte's eyes. Closed off. Obviously this is not something that she wants to discuss. Delphine wonders why Cosima has brought all of this up.

'Yeah,' the girl replies, playing with a napkin, unable to look at Cosima.

'That wasn't fun huh?'

Delphine shoots Cosima a look. What is she trying to do? Why doesn't she just ask the question? It takes her a few seconds to realize what's going on. Cosima is nervous. Her cheeky, wine-stealing, you-have-a-lot-of-dead-things-in-here-did-you-kill-all-of-them Cosima is nervous.

Charlotte doesn't reply, pretending she hasn't heard the question.

'What Cosima is trying to say,' Delphine steps in. 'Is that we would like to ask you if you would want to live with us. We're going to try and find a house near Sarah and Kira. You would have your own room of course and a real bed. You could go to school with Kira.'

'For always?'

'Yeah. As long as you want to be there,' Cosima smiles. 'I assume that you might want to go to college at some point. Or perhaps you'll want to move in with a boy- or girlfriend when you're old enough. But until then you're welcome to stay with us.'

'I think I'd like that.' Charlotte's still playing with her napkin.

'Are you sure?' Cosima asks. 'You can take some time to think about it, if you want. And you can totally tell us if you don't want to. We won't be mad. We can look at other options.'

'No. I would like to live with you. If you're sure you want me to.' Cautiously the girl looks up to them both and smiles gently.

'Of course we are,' Cosima exclaims, tears running down her cheeks, though there's a big smile on her face.

'We are, Charlotte. We'd be honored.' Delphine adds and the girl beams at them.

In the end, it's perhaps not the big, exuberant declaration they'd expected it to be, but she can feel that the three of them are happy and at ease with the idea. They'll be okay.


	4. Epilogue: Les Bien-Aimées

_One Year Later_

'Delphine, why isn't she here yet?' Charlotte's voice is whiny, a tone that Delphine has come to associate with nervousness. The girl's already wearing her elf costume and Delphine is not sure how she's managed to escape her teacher's watchful eye and snuck off to the auditorium.

'She'll be there, _mon coeur_ ,' she soothes the girl. 'Don't worry. She would not miss this for all the gold in the world. She's so proud of you. We're both so proud of you.'

She pulls on one of Charlotte's pigtails, which Cosima braids so carefully every morning.

'But everyone's parents or guardians are here already.' Delphine can't help but smile at the word guardians, it's adorable how Charlotte tries to normalize their situation by using this word. She's pretty sure that the girl is the only one in her class with guardians instead of parents, but she doesn't let it bother her.

'You know Cosima is always late,' she sighs, silently hoping that her girlfriend is almost there. 'She doesn't mean to, but she just loses track of time. She'll be here soon, I'm sure of it. Besides, everyone else is here.' She moves aside so the girl can see her aunts (or technically sisters) and uncles. Sarah's sitting on Delphine's right, next to Helena, Felix, Alison, Donnie and Oscar and Gemma.

'Sestra Cosima will be here soon,' Helena says. 'She just sent me phone message. She's on her way. She tells you to break your arm.'

'It's break a leg, meathead.'

'You see,' Delphine tells Charlotte. 'She'll be there. Don't worry now. You will do great tonight.' She kisses the girl's forehead. 'Come on, I'll bring you back to your teacher backstage before they will notice you're gone.'

'Tell Kira to break her leg as well,' Helena tells the girl. 'You will both be stars.'

When she comes back Sarah and Helena are arguing and Cosima is still nowhere to be seen.

'You're going to feel so guilty if Cos somehow doesn't show up and you've lied to Charlotte,' Sarah tells her twin.

'It was good lie. To make her stop worrying. It made her happy.'

Delphine is desperately typing away on her phone. _Where are you? They're starting in 15 minutes. Everyone is here already. Charlotte is worried._

'She'll be there, Delphine,' Sarah tells her.

'I know,' she snaps. 'I just wish she was on time for once. She's making Charlotte worry about nothing.'

'You know she doesn't do it on purpose,' Sarah tries to defend her sister, but when she sees the angry look on Delphine's face she holds her tongue.

Of course, when the lights are already out, two minutes before the play is about to start, her lover comes in.

'Sorry, sorry,' she hears Cosima mumble as she clumsily makes her way down the aisle towards her seat.

A quick kiss is pressed to Delphine's cheek. 'I'm so sorry,' she whispers. 'I had a meeting for my dissertation and the professor just kept talking. And then I spilled coffee all over myself so I had to go home and change first, but my bus was late...'

'-I don't need to hear your excuses. Save them for Charlotte. She was the one who was standing here, all upset because you weren't here yet.'

Cosima opens her mouth to reply, but at that moment the curtain opens and the play begins. She grabs Delphine's hand instead and strokes it gently.

The play is funny, especially considering that the actors are ten and eleven-year-olds. Some of the children are obviously nervous, some of the dance moves are a little off beat and at some point a boy stumbles over a fake mushroom, but it's enjoyable to watch. Of course Charlotte is a real star. She's rehearsed her lines so well and Delphine can feel tears of pride running down her cheeks when their girl delivers them on the school stage.

She can see Cosima grinning next to her in the glow of the lights. 'She's doing so well,' her girlfriend sighs. 'Is she really the best or am I just biased?'

'No, she's the best,' Delphine whispers back and when Sarah shushes them, she kisses Cosima's cheek.

Their odd family waits for both girls when the play is over. Kira runs towards Sarah and Charlotte makes her way towards the both of them, as quickly as she can with her bad leg.

'It was totally epic,' Cosima tells Charlotte, pulling the girl in for a hug. 'It was the best play I ever saw. And you did great. Your evil laugh was rad. I got shivers all over my back.'

'Yes, you were amazing,' Delphine agrees, kissing Charlotte's forehead. 'I especially liked the part where you and the other elf both tried to trick each other.'

Alison has brought a rose for both girls. 'Both of you little ladies did so well.'

Charlotte beams with pride, her cheeks red from the excitement.

'Can you hold it?' She carefully hands the flower to Delphine. 'I just need to get my bag.'

'Sure, _ma petite_.'

Their girl stumbles off, her braids dancing on her back.

They all go out for dinner afterwards. Charlotte's sitting between them at the large table. She's gotten a little quiet, Delphine has noticed. Maybe she's just tired from the excitement and all the noise around them.

Her rose is resting next to Kira's in a glass of water that Cosima ordered for the two little flowers.

Delphine's talking to Alison about the children's after school activities, when she suddenly feels Charlotte pull on her sleeve.

When she turns around she immediately catches the worried look on Charlotte's face.

'What's wrong, _mon chou_?' she asks.

'Could you see my leg brace on the stage? Could you see I walk funny?' Charlotte's voice is soft and she's careful to not let anyone else hear the question.

'What?' She asks. 'Why?'

'When I got my stuff, Kevin D. said his mum had asked him what was wrong with me. She called me the little cripple girl.'

It makes Delphine instantly furious. Who did this Kevin and his mother think they are? Insulting a little girl with a disability? Cosima had even dyed one of Charlotte's leg braces so it wouldn't stand out from her costume.

Her lover takes that moment to turn around and reveal that she has heard the question that was voiced so quietly. 'Does it, matter, Charlie? You wear your brace every day, you never let it bother you.'

Charlotte bites her lip, obviously not satisfied with that response.

'I did not notice it, _mon coeur_ ,' Delphine tells her. 'Besides, was Kevin not the boy who fell over the mushroom?'

Cosima snickers. 'Delphine!'

'What? He should not say such unkind things about others if he destroys the _décor_ himself!'

It earns her a small smile from Charlotte, which she hides from Cosima by putting her hand in front of her mouth.

'You have a disability, Charlotte,' Cosima tells the girl. 'It doesn't matter. But people can see it. Some people may have never seen someone with a disability before. They don't know what to say about it. They don't know what's appropriate and don't realize that saying something like that is mean and that it can hurt people. Don't let it get to you. You did a great job tonight and we all know you're awesome and we love you so much.' She plants a big kiss on Charlotte's cheek.

The girl smiles. 'Maybe Kevin D.'s mum just didn't know the proper word for it.'

A sensible conclusion.

'Or she's just _une putaine du diable_ ,' Delphine mumbles. Charlotte doesn't understand the words luckily and looks down at her menu with a relieved smile on her face.

Cosima giggles and covers Delphine's hand, that's resting on the back of Charlotte's chair. She squeezes it. 'Take it down a notch, babe. There are children at this table.'

She still feels anger for this Kevin D.'s mother, but when she looks at their girl, who's now enthusiastically chattering with Cosima and Kira about what she's going to order, she lets go of it. Obviously Kevin D.'s mum had no idea what she was talking about indeed.

'I'm happy,' Charlotte sighs, when they walk to Delphine's car after having said goodbye to the others. She's in between them again, Cosima's mitted hand in her right one, Delphine's in her left. It's a cold night and it's snowing a little.

'Is that because the play went well or because the Christmas break starts tomorrow?' Cosima asks, pulling gently on one of the girl's braids.

'Both. And because it's snowing. And because I'm excited to spend Christmas in France.'

'Me too,' Delphine smiles, she squeezes Charlotte's hand through her gloves and leans over to press a quick kiss to Cosima's lips.

'Me three,' Cosima pipes in. 'Christmas with my two favorite girls.'

They all laugh happily.

* * *

 _So, that was it! I want to thank everyone who took the time to leave a review, you're great :)_


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